King gets judge off his "official English" case

Republican Congressman Steve King’s lawyer apparently has won one small skirmish in the battle over whether Iowa officials may provide voting information in languages other than English.

King filed a lawsuit last year challenging Chet Culver’s decision to offer voter registration materials in other languages. Culver was Secretary of State and therefore Iowa’s Commissioner of Elections at the time. Culver’s now the governor and King’s attorney asked that the judge assigned to the case to withdraw because the judge contributed to Culver’s gubernatorial campaign.

According to King’s lawyer, that judge has now "recused" herself from the case and it will be reassigned to another judge.

When King was a state legislator he helped pass the state law which declares English Iowa’s official language. King’s lawsuit also asks current Secretary of State Michael Mauro to stop offering voter materials on-line in Spanish, Vietnamese, Laotian and Bosnian as well as English.